Pass the Broccoli Please!

December 26, 2008 | Filed Under cancer, research, treatment | No Comments

We’ve known for some time that eating vegetables such as broccoli, can help prevent certain forms of cancer — now, thanks to a new study done as the University of California at Santa Barbara, the mechanism by which the active substances in these vegetables inhibit cell proliferation has been discovered.

It was reported on Tuesday that this new research has shown how the healing power of these vegetables works at the cellular level. The study results were published in this month’s Carcinogenesis.

Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, calliflower, and cabbage contain compounds called isothiocyanates which appear to be responsible for the cancer-preventive and anti-carcinogenic activities.

The research focuses on the anti-cancer activity of one of these compounds, called sulforaphane, or SFN. It has already been shown to reduce the incidence and rate of chemically induced mammary tumors in animals. It inhibits the growth of cultured human breast cancer cells, leading to cell death.

The researchers made the surprising discovery that SFN inhibits the proliferation of human tumor cells by a mechanism similar to the way that the anticancer drugs taxol and vincristine inhibit cell division during mitosis. However SFN is much weaker than these other plant-based drugs, and thus much less toxic.

“SFN may be an effective cancer preventive agent because it inhibits the proliferation and kills precancerous cells,” according to the authors of the study. It is also possible that it could be used as an addition to taxol and other similar drugs to increase effective killing of tumor cells without increased toxicity.

Can Mistletoe Kill Cancer?

December 19, 2008 | Filed Under cancer, research, treatment | 1 Comment

There’s a possibility that Mistletoe may be more than just an excuse to steal kisses at the office Christmas party. Researchers at an Australian university are testing the efficacy of mistletoe as a cancer killing agent.

Mistletoe is a common name for a type of parasitic plant in the order of Santatales. It is a poisonous plant that can cause a variety of symptoms if injested, including acute stomach pain, diarrhea, and low blood pressure.

Dr Ljubov Simson, Senior researcher at Australia’s University of Canberra’s Cancer Immunotherapy Group, laboratory tests have confirmed anecdotal evidence of mistletoe’s ability to stimulate the body’s immune system while killing off cancer cells and, while it’s not a cure, it may well provide more treatment options to patients and complement more traditional treatments to give some people a fighting chance in case where traditional chemotherapy may not be enough.

According to Dr. Simson, lab tests conducted outside of a human body have shown a mistletoe extract could kill 80 percent of a cancer tumor with the added benefit of not destroying healthy cells.

The extract apparently activates a sub-class of white blood cells, the eosinophil, which has already been shown as effective in cancer treatment.

Mistletoe also actsas a “coagulant” when introduced to the cancer cells.

“It increases adhesion and it helps the mistletoe product to basically start to break apart the tumour cells,” Dr Simson said.

“There is also a toxin in the mistletoe — so you’d have to be careful with the dosage that you’d give to patients — the toxin is also directly effective at killing tumour cells.”

The mistletoe extract is already being used in cancer treatment programs in Europe, mostly in Germany. In 2002, The National Cancer Institute began phase I clinical trials in the United States. Dr Simson hopes her work will lead to the plant being approved for use in cancer treatments in Australia.

Afternoon Exam

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under ENT, PET CT Scan, cancer, examinations, oncologist | No Comments

So I had my final doctor’s appointment of 2008, yesterday afternoon at the Cancer Center at South Jersey Regional Hospital with Dr. Fanelle.  It went well.  I didn’t  really think it would go badly since I’d  just been examined by my ENT 2 weeks ago and his exams are usually a little bit more thorough.  I have to have another PET/CT Scan after the holidays, although barring any unforeseen bad luck, this should be no more than a formality at this point.  Nonetheless, fingers crossed. 

It’s really quite funny how a very real brush with death will change your perspective.  Had I not gotten cancer, I’d probably be  unhappy about my financial woes right now.  Depressed over the lack of money and not being able to do any Christmas shopping. Unhappy that every dime I’m am able to scrape together from various sources is going towards paying my substantial debts.  Fuck it! I’m just happy to be here.  Maybe not feeling quite as Christmas-y as last year (afterall, last year’s holiday was the first time in two years, I could eat Turkey dinner and cookies and so forth), but still in pretty good spirits.

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